Ancient maps were not drawn to scale, because cartographers lacked the tools to allow them to work from exact measurements.
Drawings that are not the same size as the object or objects being drawn should be drawn to scale.The term "to scale" means that the dimensions of the drawing are made in proportion to the dimensions of the subject. For example, if a building is exactly twice as tall as it is wide, the drawn building should also be twice as tall as it is wide. Because a drawing is much smaller than an actual building, the drawing should include a measurement scale indicating the proportion. For example, if the building is 100 meters tall in real life and is 10 centimeters tall in the drawing, the measurement scale would read "1 cm = 10 m." For more difficult measurements to put to scale, follow the instructions below.
Instructions
1. Write down the length of the object in a metric unit (e.g. meters, centimeters or kilometers). Measure it if you do not know the length.
2. Measure the length (longest dimension) of the paper for the drawing. Write down the length of the paper in a metric unit. This will usually be centimeters.
3. Round down the length of the paper from Step 2 to an easy multiple or factor of the actual length of the object from Step 1. For example, if a building is 250 meters tall and the paper is 30 centimeters long, use 25 centimeters of the paper for the drawing of the building. Because 25 is a factor of 250, this gives you a workable frame for proportions.
4. Divide the length of the object by the usable length of the paper. The quotient is the proportion. For example, 250 m/25 cm is 10 m/cm. This means that 1 centimeter on the paper equals 10 meters in actual size.
5. Write the proportion using standard metric abbreviations; for example, "1 cm = 10 m." Use this scale while creating your drawing, making sure that each of the lines of your subject proportionally matches the scale of its dimensions in actual size.
Tags: down length, example building, length object, length paper, actual size, building meters
